Video viewing and tagging system

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided to view, manipulate, and share videos within a gaming platform implemented as an advisory services network. Within the context of a serious game designed around a complex business problem of an organization, players can review videos conveying ethnographic information, mark segments of the videos, tag the videos or segments for categorization, create discussions around the videos or segments, add the videos or segments as evidence to a dossier, embed the videos or segments into existing discussions, or the like.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser.No. 61/409,017, filed on Nov. 1, 2010, entitled “VIDEO VIEWING ANDTAGGING SYSTEM”, the entirety of which is incorporated herein byreference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The subject disclosure relates to a video viewing and tagging system fora game, within an advisory services network, that enables a variety ofplayers to extract specific segments of videos and share the specificsegments for discussion among the variety of players to achieve overallgoals (e.g., solutions to complex problems) of the advisory servicesnetwork.

BACKGROUND

In enterprise business, the importance of information technology (IT) isever increasing. Large enterprise organizations rely more and more onrobust technology products and related services to support theirbusinesses. Over the past several decades, a large consulting servicesindustry has developed to support and service these large enterpriseorganizations. Typically, consulting organizations apply one model inexecuting consulting services. This model involves top-performing,senior level consultants developing customer service partnerships withlarge enterprise organizations. The senior level consultants leverage alarge number of junior consultants to design IT solutions. This model,however, is not easily scalable, it is labor intensive and thusexpensive, and does not guarantee quality results. In addition,consulting organizations attempt to leverage previous solutions,developed for other customers, as a means for raising profit margins.This approach leads to non-differentiated solutions which partiallyaddress core problems of the enterprises.

Enterprise organizations seek the assistance of consultants to identify,analyze, and solve complex business problems. Complex business problems,as the name suggests, can be extremely complex, and result from variousfactors. For instance, complex business problems can arise from a seriesof business changes, rapid growth of businesses, technology changes,and/or technological limitations.

Enterprise organizations, who understand their businesses to a greaterextent than consulting firms, desire a collaborative approach in whichthe enterprise organizations and consulting firms work closely todevelop creative business solutions for complex problems. Accordingly,it can be beneficial to leverage business knowledge, held by theenterprise organizations, to immerse a team of consultants into theproblems faced by the enterprise organizations in order to developeffective solutions.

One possible immersion mechanism is “serious” games. Serious games canencompass many forms and subject matters and teach players informationrelating to education, health, science, law and government, computers,and/or a multitude of other subjects. Typically, computer games aredesigned for entertainment purposes. However, with serious games, thegoal is to train and educate players through a planned curriculum andset of objectives. Players can learn new material in a fun, educationalenvironment. Conventional serious games, while challenging, are notaimed at real-life business problems nor provide clear problemstatements and solutions which can be implemented by enterpriseorganizations. Rather, conventional serious games are designed to lookat societal weaknesses and/or extreme world disaster scenarios in theworld and in the future without regard to the existence of workablesolutions.

Another challenge with consulting services and immersion mechanismsarises due to the sheer complexity of problems faced by enterpriseorganizations. For example, complex problems can involve vast amounts ofdata which can require research and analysis by a wide array of expertsto comprehend the complex situations presented by the complex problemsand any possible implications. Enterprise organizations can spendcountless hours building data portfolios containing details whichsummarize the what, why, when, where, who, and how of a complex businessproblem. After data compilation, experts read, parse, review, and absorball the information in order to develop a reasonable problem statement.

Reviewing volumes of data takes time and money due to people researchingand creating systematic approaches to reduce the volumes of data into areasonable problem concept. In a specific example, enterpriseorganizations, experiencing complex problems, assemble informationaround the problem areas in order to understand the complexities of theissues. To facilitate dissemination and comprehension of theinformation, the enterprise organizations can contextualize, clarify,simplify, and synthesize the information around the problem. One way tofacilitate understanding of a problem is to provide contextual data.While contextual data is difficult to explain, ethnographic portrayalsand interviews through video footage simulate contextual data such asculture, customs, language, terminology, and specific environmentsutilized in settings of enterprise organizations.

After recording video interviews, numerous hours can be spent byresearchers to review the video. However, a portion of the informationcaptured within a video clip can be insignificant. For instance,portions of the video footage can include dead spaces or transitionsduring which a video recorder continues to run. While such portions canbe edited, e.g., removed, a lot of the remaining information in thevideo footage can bear little relevance to the complex problems ofenterprise organizations. Accordingly, even when edited, large amountsof video footage can be unruly to review, parse, and analyze.

The above-described deficiencies of conventional consulting solutionsand video viewing systems are merely intended to provide an overview ofsome of the problems of conventional systems and techniques, and are notintended to be exhaustive. Other problems with conventional systems andtechniques, and corresponding benefits of the various non-limitingembodiments described herein may become further apparent upon review ofthe following description.

SUMMARY

A simplified summary is provided herein to help enable a basic orgeneral understanding of various aspects of exemplary, non-limitingembodiments that follow in the more detailed description and theaccompanying drawings. This summary is not intended, however, as anextensive or exhaustive overview. Instead, the sole purpose of thissummary is to present some concepts related to some exemplarynon-limiting embodiments in a simplified form as a prelude to the moredetailed description of the various embodiments that follow.

In various, non-limiting embodiments, an advisory services network isprovided that enables enterprise organizations to identify complexbusiness problems from apparent business problems, immerse a diversegroup of people in the businesses of the enterprise organizations, andpromote collaboration to develop viable solutions to the complexbusiness problems. An enterprise organization can supply a collection ofdata to enable members of the diverse group of people to immersethemselves into the problem space, participate in creative discussions,and brainstorm potential solutions. The advisory services network caninclude a gaming platform on which instances of serious games can bedeveloped and deployed. Serious games deployed on the gaming platformguide players (e.g., members of the diverse group of people sourced bythe advisory services network) through a thought-provoking environmentin which the players uncover idiosyncrasies and complexities of thebusiness of an enterprise organization. Through the serious games on thegaming platform, players are immersed in the problem space of theenterprise organization. The players are encouraged to identify realproblems of the enterprise organization, for which solutions arecurrently unknown, and develop potential solutions to those realproblems. The gaming platform further enables sharing of ideas amongplayers, discussions among players, and other player interactions tofacilitate compounding of perspectives and solutions among a diversegroup.

In yet another embodiment, the advisory services network and/or gamingplatform can include a video tagging and viewing system configured toenable players, while engaging in a game on the gaming platform, toreview video footage, highlight relevant portions, and initiatecommunications regarding the relevant portions. Particularly, the videotagging and viewing subsystem powers the review of videos, the markingof segments of the videos, tagging of videos or segments forcategorization, creation of discussions around the videos or segments,the addition of videos or segments as evidence to a dossier, theembedding of videos or segments into existing discussions, etc.

These and other embodiments are described in more detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various non-limiting embodiments are further described with reference tothe accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary, non-limitingadvisory services network for sourcing a group to develop solutions tocomplex problems;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary, non-limiting embodimentfor developing solutions to complex business problems via crowdsourcing;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary, non-limitingembodiment of an advisory services network implemented as a gamingplatform;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment of aadvisory services network hosting a game instance;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary, non-limitingembodiment for a gaming environment which immerses players in a businessof an enterprise organization facing a complex business problem;

FIG. 6 is an exemplary, non-limiting illustration of a user interface ofa gaming environment of an advisory services network;

FIG. 7 is an exemplary, non-limiting illustration of a user interface ofa network game within a gaming environment according to one or moreembodiments;

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow diagram of an exemplary, non-limitingembodiment for manipulating a video visually presented on a userinterface;

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment forextracting a segment of a video visually presented on a user interfaceand adding the segment to a digital dossier;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary, non-limiting actof adding a portion of a video to a digital dossier;

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment fortagging a portion of a video;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary, non-limiting actof tagging a portion of a video;

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram of an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment forselecting a portion of a video and creating a discussion about theportion of video;

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary, non-limiting actof creating a discussion thread from an extracted portion of a video;

FIG. 15 is a flow diagram of an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment forlinking a portion of a video to an on-going discussion thread;

FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary, non-limiting actof extracting a portion of video and attaching the portion to anon-going discussion thread;

FIG. 17 illustrates a flow diagram of an exemplary, non-limitingembodiment for generating a dynamic user interface with information froma plurality of information sources;

FIG. 18 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary, non-limiting actof creating a user interface as a composite of disparate informationfrom a plurality of sources;

FIG. 19 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary, non-limitinggaming platform in accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary, non-limiting gameand game engine deployed on a gaming platform in accordance with one ormore embodiments;

FIG. 21 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary, non-limiting videotagging subsystem in accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 22 is an exemplary, non-limiting illustration of a user interfaceof a network game within a gaming environment according to one or moreembodiments;

FIG. 23 is an exemplary, non-limiting illustration of a user interfaceof a network game within a gaming environment according to one or moreembodiments;

FIG. 24 is an exemplary, non-limiting illustration of a user interfaceof a network game within a gaming environment according to one or moreembodiments;

FIG. 25 is a block diagram representing exemplary non-limiting networkedenvironments in which various embodiments described herein can beimplemented; and

FIG. 26 is a block diagram representing an exemplary non-limitingcomputing system or operating environment in which one or more aspectsof various embodiments described herein can be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Overview

As discussed in the background, conventional consulting services employa non-scalable and expensive business model that often producesnon-differentiated solutions to enterprise organizations facing complexproblems. In addition, a large volume of information is typicallyassociated with the complex problems, which requires a significanteffort to absorb and understand. Accordingly, conventional consultingservices cannot cost effectively immerse themselves in the business ofenterprise organizations in order to provide high quality, viablesolutions to complex problems.

In various, non-limiting embodiments, an advisory services network isprovided that enables enterprise organizations to identify complexbusiness problems from apparent business problems, immerse a diversegroup of people in the businesses of the enterprise organizations, andpromote collaboration to develop viable solutions to the complexbusiness problems. An enterprise organization can supply case studies ofreal-life scenarios, data, ethnographic interviews to convey multipleviews of problematic areas, etc., to enable members of the diverse groupof people to immerse themselves into the problem space, participate increative discussions, and brainstorm potential solutions. In addition toimmersion, the advisory services network can improve solution buildingprocesses through identification of subject matter experts. The subjectmatter experts, drawn from the diverse group of players interacting inthe advisory services network, can collaborate, co-innovate, and problemsolve in a virtual team environment fostered by the advisory servicesnetwork.

According to a further embodiment, the advisory services network caninclude a gaming platform on which instances of serious games can bedeveloped and deployed. Serious games deployed on the gaming platformguide players (e.g., members of the diverse group of people sourced bythe advisory services network) through a thought-provoking environmentin which the players uncover idiosyncrasies and complexities of thebusiness of an enterprise organization. Through the serious games on thegaming platform, players are immersed in the problem space of theenterprise organization. The players are encouraged to identify realproblems of the enterprise organization and develop potential solutionsto those real problems. The gaming platform further enables sharing ofideas among players, discussions among players, and other playerinteractions to facilitate compounding of perspectives and solutionsamong a diverse group.

In yet another embodiment, the advisory services network and/or gamingplatform can include a video tagging and viewing subsystem configured toenable players, while engaging in a game on the gaming platform, toreview video footage, e.g., evidence, conveying ethnographic informationand highlight relevant portions while filtering extra or irrelevantfootage. For instance, the video tagging and viewing subsystem enables agame player to select specific segments of a video to extractinformation that is particularly germane to the real problems of theenterprise organization, mark the extracted information, discuss theextracted information, and/or otherwise share the information with otherplayers.

In a specific, non-limiting example, the video tagging and viewingsubsystem enables review of videos, highlight and marking of segments ofthe videos, tagging of videos for categorization, start discussionsaround the videos, rate videos, add videos as evidence to a dossier,embed videos into existing discussion, etc. Thus, the video tagging andviewing subsystems of the advisory services network gaming platformfacilitates reviewing and sharing of a large number of video files by adiverse group of game players. The videos can be viewed and tagged atspecific moments, segments of the videos can be saved, and selectedsegments can be shared with players to obtain feedback, exchangeperspectives, etc. Video reviewing and tagging allows players to startdiscussions around videos and/or segments of videos. Further, videoreviewing and tagging enables players to add additional information,e.g., tags or labels, to videos. The tags can be employed to conveyadditional information to other reviewers, e.g., players, and as anotation mechanism to enable recollection of a significance of aparticular video or portion thereof. Moreover, tags can be employed assearch criteria to enable players to search for videos based uponclassifications implemented via the tags. Tags, in an embodiment, can bedefault tags or player-created.

In one embodiment, a method is described herein that includes receivingtime field selection parameters from a user interface, wherein the timefield selection parameters specify a segment of a video visuallypresented on the user interface, creating a new discussion thread on adiscussion platform, such as a discussion board, wherein a topic of thenew discussion thread centers around the segment of the video, andupdating the user interface to indicate the creating of the newdiscussion thread and association of the discussion thread with thesegment of the video. In an example, the creating of the new discussioncan include generating a data structure that represents the newdiscussion thread and populating the data structure with information.The information, in a further example, includes at least one of ausername of an initiator of the new discussion thread, a time and dateof creation, an initial comment text obtained from the user interface, afile attachment, or a hyperlink attachment.

According to further examples, the method can include receiving acommand from the user interface, wherein the command triggers thecreation of the new discussion thread and identifying a start time andan end time of the segment of the video based on the time fieldselection parameters. In addition, the method can include extracting thesegment of the video from an entirety of the video and associating thesegment of the video extracted to the new discussion thread.

In yet another example, the method includes linking the new discussionthread and the segment of the video to indicate that the topic of thenew discussion thread relates to the segment of the video. Further tothis example, the link of the new discussion can include generatingmetadata that associates a first identifier, associated with the newdiscussion thread, and a second identifier corresponding to the video,appending time field information to the metadata, wherein the time fieldinformation delineates the segment of the video relative to a time lineof the video, and storing the metadata generated in a data store.According to further examples, the updating of the user interface caninclude displaying a tag, that links to the new discussion thread, on aplayback timeline of the user interface, wherein the tag includes avisual indication, of the segment of the video specified by the timefield selection parameters, along the playback timeline and a visualrepresentation of an initiator of the new discussion thread. In additionor as alternative, the update of the user interface can includereceiving an identifier of content for display on the user interface,querying a metadata store with the identifier to acquire a set ofrelated content identifiers; acquiring related content from a pluralityof data stores based on the set of related content identifiers, andgenerating user interface content based on a composite of the relatedcontent and the content for display.

According to further embodiments, a method is described herein thatincludes receiving a command relating to a pre-existing discussionthread presented on a user interface and time field parameters relatingto a disparate media item, updating a content of the pre-existingdiscussion thread based on the command and the disparate media item,associating the pre-existing discussion thread with a segment of thedisparate media item extracted according to the time field parameters,and updating the user interface to reflect the content updated and theassociating of the pre-existing discussion thread and the segment of thedisparate media item. In an example, the method can also includegenerating metadata that associates a first identifier, corresponding tothe discussion thread, and a second identifier corresponding to themedia item, and storing the metadata generated in a data store.

In an additional embodiment, a gaming platform of an advisory servicesnetwork is described herein that includes a game engine associated withan instance of a game and configured to manage execution of the game,wherein a variety of players participate to solve a real-world problemfor which a solution is yet to be found based on evidence input to thegame. The gaming platform further includes an interface moduleconfigured to maintain display content a user interface and to receiveplayer input from the user interface and a plurality of data storagelocations such as an evidence store configured to retain a collection ofdata related to a complex problem of a sponsor of the game, wherein thecollection of data includes media files conveying ethnographicinformation received from the sponsor and a discussion store configuredto store discussion threads. In addition, the game engine can include avideo viewing and tagging subsystem configured to retrieve a first mediafile from the evidence store, tag a portion of the first media file, andcreate a new discussion thread that pertains to the portion of the firstmedia file tagged.

In an example, the view viewing and tagging subsystem is furtherconfigured to retrieve a second media file from the evidence store, toidentify a pre-existing discussion thread stored in the discussion storeand presented on the user interface, and to associate the second mediafile with the pre-existing discussion thread. For instance, the videoviewing and tagging subsystem can include a linking module configured toassociate the new discussion thread with the portion of the first mediafile. The linking module is further configured to generate a metadataentry based on a first identifier corresponding to the new discussionthread and a second identifier corresponding to the first media file,wherein the metadata correlates the first identifier and the secondidentifier. According to an example, the metadata entry includesinformation that specifies the portion of the first media file as afunction of an entirety of the first media file.

In another example, the plurality of data stores further includes ametadata store configured to store metadata that associates discussionthreads stored in the discussion store to media files stored in theevidence store. In yet another example, the game engine can include atagging module configured to associate a label with the portion of thefirst media file and a user interface content module configured togenerate user interface content, maintained by the interface module,based on media files stored in the evidence store and respectivediscussion threads respectively associated with the media files.

Herein, an overview of some of the embodiments for a video tagging andviewing system in an advisory services network gaming platform has beenpresented above. As a roadmap for what follows next, an overview ofexemplary, non-limiting embodiments and features of an advisory servicesnetwork and/or an advisory services network gaming platform aredescribed in more detail. Then, various exemplary, non-limitingembodiments and features for viewing and manipulating video in thegaming platform are described. Finally, some non-limitingimplementations and examples are given for additional illustration,followed by representative network and computing environments in whichsuch embodiments and/or features can be implemented.

Overview of an Advisory Services Network and Gaming Platform

As mentioned above, in various embodiments, an advisory services networkenables consulting services to be rendered to enterprise organizationsfacing complex problems. The advisory service network, unlikeconventional consulting business models, does not rely on a handful ofsenior consultants maintaining customer relationships while juniorconsultants handle problem solving. The advisory services networkprovides immersion mechanisms through utilization of ethnography,capitalizes on a crowd sourcing to a diverse group and engagesidentified experts in a talent marketplace to develop quality solutionsto enterprise organizations.

The advisory services network implements several primary aspects. First,the advisory services network facilitates transforming the problem.Transforming the problem includes methodology to immerse experts inreal-life case studies to identify with complex problems faced byenterprise organizations. For instance, transforming the problem caninvolve the use of ethnography (e.g., real-life interviews andobservations) to obtain perspective on a culture, problems, andexperiences of an enterprise organization. In addition, transforming theproblem can involve various immersion tactics to place the consultantswithin the advisory services network in the place of the enterpriseorganization, e.g., walk in their shoes. Further, transforming theproblem can include querying a crowd to expose or uncover a core problemor identify other problems. The advisory services network can alsofacilitate crowd sourcing a solution, including methodology to utilize alarge diverse group of individuals to solve complex problems. Finally,the advisory services network can implement a talent marketplace withmethodology to leverage solution concepts and transform solutionconcepts into collaborative solutions.

In a specific, non-limiting embodiment, the advisory services networkcan be implemented as a gaming platform to coordinate transforming theproblem, crowd sourcing problem solving, and engaging experienced talentto develop real world solutions. A serious game, e.g., a game with aprimary objective to be fun and educational, can be developed on thegaming platform. The game can be based around one or more complexproblems plaguing an enterprise organization. In particular, thedeveloped game can include a back story, a plurality of narratives, andevidence (e.g., videos, graphics, documents, data, etc.).

The game immerses players (e.g., members of a diverse source group ofthe advisory services network) into the problem space of the enterpriseorganization. The game challenges players to identify real problems fromapparent problems and develop possible solution to the real problems.The game encourages players to share ideas with other players who canprovide fresh perspectives and additional input based upon their own,individual findings. As the game pushes more and more players to offerviewpoints and solutions concepts, the game provides mechanisms toenable players to interact, exchange ideas, and discuss ideas. In thismanner, the players can modify their own ideas based upon the viewpointsof other players, collaborate together on solutions, and otherwiseuncover high quality and robust solutions via perspective compounding.

With respect to one or more non-limiting aspects of the advisoryservices network as described above, FIG. 1 shows a block diagramillustrating an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment for sourcing a groupto develop solutions to complex problems. As shown in FIG. 1, anadvisory services network 100 can receive an initial problem statement102, which can establish a goal to achieve or a purpose of the advisoryservices network 100. In an example, an enterprise organization, abusiness, a governmental organization, or other similar entityexperiencing a complex problem can supply initial problem statement 102,which attempts to portray the complex problem. In another example, theinitial problem statement 102 can indicate a request to identify aproblem of the enterprise organization, business, governmentalorganization, etc., based upon observed, undesired effects.

Advisory services network 100 draws upon sourced group 110 to generateand develop one or more solutions 104, which potentially solve thecomplex problem of the sponsor, e.g., the organization supplying initialproblem statement 102. Sourced group 110 can include diverse group ofexperts, consultants, and other people. Diversity with sourced group 110can exist in a variety of ways. For instance, members of sourced group110 can exhibit diversity in terms of geography, culture, ethnicity,age, education, career, skills, background, experience, etc. Sourcegroup 110 can be built to achieve, intentionally, diversity in one ormore characteristics. It is also to be appreciated that, as source group110 grows in size, diversity in a variety of aspects inevitably occurs.

The advisory services network 100, in an aspect, increases exposure of acomplex problem or goal embodied in the initial problem statement 102 tosourced group 110, which can be very large relative to a size of thesponsor supplying the initial problem statement 102. The sponsor cansupply case studies depicting real-life scenarios, data, multiple viewsof problematic areas through ethnographic interviews, etc. to enablesmembers of sourced group 110 to immerse themselves into the problemspace. Advisory services network 100 facilitates, encourages, andmanages creative discussions, among members of sourced group 100,regarding potential solutions. Advisory services network 100 challengesthe conventional consulting services model which relies on knowledge ofa handful of top consultants in a large consulting organization.Advisory services network 100 employs immersion techniques, crowdsourcing, and a talent marketplace to, respectively, convey extensiveknowledge held by the sponsor regarding the problem space, leveragestrengths and wisdom of a large diversified group, and surface greatsolutions and discuss the solutions with experts.

For instance, advisory services network 100 enhances solution buildingby identifying subject matter experts and enabling the subject matterexperts to collaborate, co-innovate, and problem solve, in a virtualteam environment. Subject matter experts, through advisory servicesnetwork 100, can communication with one another, without beingcollocated, and leverage knowledge, skills, and experiences of thesubject matter experts to solve complex problems and innovate furtherideas. Accordingly, advisory services network 100 bridges geographicaland cultural divides among experts and other members of sourced group110 and brings them together in a virtual environment where sourcedgroup 110 engage in discussions around complex problems and formulatesolutions.

FIG. 2 depicts a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary, non-limitingembodiment for developing solutions to complex business problems viacrowd sourcing. The embodiment shown in FIG. 2 can be utilized byadvisory service network 100 of FIG. 1 to leverage sourced group 110 todevelop solutions 104 based upon initial problem statement 102. At 200,an initial problem statement is obtained from an organization. Theinitial problem statement can convey an apparent problem faced by theorganization. According to a non-limiting example, the apparent problemcan be related to dataflow and information sharing limitations,capturing and transmitting real-time data, securing the right resourcesand equipment, brainstorming future innovations, etc.

At 210, the initial problem statement is transformed to generatemultiple perspectives, sub-problems, and/or alternative problems. Theproblem can be transformed by a diverse group of participants in theadvisory services network through direct observations, ethnographicinterviews, support documents, etc., which capture various viewpoints ofthe initial problem statement from employees and associates of theorganization. In addition, participants in the advisory services networkcan build dossiers to provide multiple perspectives or views of theproblems faced by the organization, to articulate root problems of theorganization, and/or to present focused opportunities for theorganization in the future. During this phase, the participants immersethemselves in the problem space, review qualitative and quantitativedata, and provide a wide variety of insights and perspectives as aresult.

At 220, the transformed problem is crowd sourced to a diverse group.Crowd sourcing is a model that leverages collective insights andexperience of the diverse group to produce quality results. Throughcrowd sourcing, the diverse group can work together to capitalize onstrengths of the varied background, experiences, and individuality thateach member of the diverse group. For instance, each member of thediverse group can offer a varied perspective on the transformed problem,and the diverse group, collectively or individually, can build upon theperspectives of others. The diverse group, harnessing multipleperspectives, can produce greater results than a homogenous group.During the crowd sourcing phase, members of the diverse group can,through advisory services network 100, offer solution, ideas,perspectives, build upon solutions, ideas, perspectives of others,and/or provide feedback on solutions, ideas, or perspectives.

At 230, the diverse group is engaged to develop solutions. In an aspect,engaging the diverse group occurs during crowd sourcing to encouragemembers of the diverse group to participate in crowd sourcing. In aspecific, non-limiting example, a rewards-based model can be employed toentice members of the diverse group to participate and develop solutionconcepts.

At 240, solution concepts are built and implemented. For example, in theprevious phases, subject matter experts can be identified in the diversegroup. Virtual teams can be constructed around these subject matterexperts. The virtual teams can collaborate to translate solutionconcepts, submitted by the diverse group sourced by the advisory servicenetwork, into solution designs and architectures. The organization canselect one or more solution designs and architectures for implementationand deployment. At 250, implemented solutions are provided to theorganization for deployment.

Turning to FIG. 3, a block diagram is shown illustrating an exemplary,non-limiting embodiment for a gaming environment which immerses playersin problems faced by an organization. As shown in FIG. 3, a gamingplatform 300, implementing the advisory services network, on which aserious game can be designed, implemented, and deployed. The seriousgame, as mentioned above in the Overview, can provide an entertainingand thought provoking environment in which at least a portion of theprocess described with respect to FIG. 2 can occur. For instance, theserious game can be designed to facilitate solving real-world complexbusiness problems and challenges faced by an organization, such assponsor 302. The serious game of gaming platform 300 is configured toimmerse a set of players 304 into the business of sponsor 302, to engageand reward the set of players 304 for solution building, and to promoteinteraction, collaboration, and discussion among the set of players 304.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, gaming platform 300 obtains various inputsfrom sponsor 302 and/or the set of players 304. In addition, gamingplatform 300 provides various outputs to sponsor 302 and the set ofplayers 304. For instance, sponsor 302 can supply gaming platform 300with an initial problem statement specifying an apparent problem andevidence such as videos, audio clips, documents, etc., which furtherdetail the apparent problem. The gaming platform 300 employs the initialproblem statement and evidence to establish a setting (e.g.,introduction and narrative game content) of the serious gamecorresponding to the complex problems suffered by sponsor 302. Thesetting provides a story in which the evidence fits while alsosupporting the evidence.

The set of players 304, via the established setting, carry out the stepsof the advisory services network process described in FIG. 2. Forinstance, the set of players 304 can provide input to the game in theform of problem perspectives (e.g., description of each player's view ofthe problems of sponsor 302), solution concepts, feedback on solutionconcepts of other players, interactions and discussions among players,implemented solutions, and the like. Through gaming platform 300,sponsor 302 is presented with the problem perspectives, solutionconcepts, and implemented solutions developed by the set of players 304.In return, the set of players 304 achieve rewards (e.g., points). It isto be appreciated that the inputs and outputs illustrated in FIG. 3 areseveral examples to facilitate understanding of the gaming platform 300and are a non-exhaustive listing of the inputs and outputs which canexpressed in the gaming platform 300.

Turning to FIG. 4, illustrated is a block diagram of an exemplary,non-limiting embodiment of advisory services network 400 or gamingplatform configured to host a plurality of serious game instances. Asshown in FIG. 4, the advisory services network 400 hosts a set of gameinstances 406, where each game instance is a playable serious game.While FIG. 4 depicts the set of game instances 406 having three gameinstances, it is to be appreciated that FIG. 4 is an exemplaryembodiment to illustrate one or more aspects of the advisory servicesnetwork 400 and that the set of game instances 406 hosted by theadvisory services network 400 can include up to N game instances, whereN is an integer greater than or equal to one.

Advisory services network 400 can include a game instance managementmodule 402 configured to administer the set of game instances 406.According to a specific, non-limiting example, the game instancemanagement module 402 can instantiate new game instances. The gameinstance management module 402 can generate a new game instance fromreceived information provided by a sponsor of the new game instance(e.g., an organization with a complex problem) or developed, by aprovider of the advisory services network, based upon informationobtained from the sponsor. Specifically, game instance management module402 creates game instance 408 based upon a collection of data 422 andscenario information 424 provided to the advisory services network 400.The collection of data 422 can include various items of evidence, e.g.,photos, videos, audio clips, documents, etc., which support or explainaspects of a complex problem providing the setting of game instance 408.Scenario information 424 can include a series of narratives divided intoscenes which organize the collection of data 422 in a meaningful mannerto provide a player with a fun and thought-provoking journey through thecomplex problem of game instance 408. Scenario information 424 can becreated so as to immerse players 430 in the world of the sponsor of gameinstance 408 while playing the game.

Game instance management module 402 instantiates game instance 408 andpopulates various data stores therein with data based upon thecollection of data 422 and the scenario information 424. Theinstantiated game instance 408 can be a data structure which ispopulated by the collection of data 422 and scenario information 424 andstored in game information store 404 along with other game instances ofthe set of game instances 406 which have been created. In a specificexample, when creating game instance 408, game instance managementmodule 402 can store the collection of data 422 into an evidence store412. In addition, game instance management module 402 can save scenarioinformation 424 into a scenario store 418. Further, game instancemanagement module 402 configures a game controller 410, which maintainsa user interface for players 430, handles input from players 430,progresses game play in accordance with scenario information stored inthe scenario store 418, manages access and storage of data to thevarious data stores of game instance 408, and performs a variety ofother functions. As players 430 engage the serious game provided by gameinstance 408, game controller 410 appropriately responds. As describedabove, players 430 can navigate through scenes and narratives, viewsupporting evidence, manipulate evidence, and select items of evidenceto be added to dossiers respectively associated with the players 430.Game controller 410 receives navigation input from players 430,retrieves requested scene information from scenario store 418, andgenerates a corresponding user interface presented to players 430.Moreover, game controller 410 can receive the evidence selection andupdate dossier information in a dossier store 414 appropriately.

As described above, an aspect of serious games provided by advisoryservices network 400 is the ability of players 430 to suggest, develop,collaborate, etc. on solutions to the complex problem of the sponsor viacommunications, such as discussions. As players 430 collaborate togenerate solutions and/or solution concepts, game controller 410 retainscommunications (e.g., discussions, evidence linkings, messages, etc.) ina discussion store 416 and the solutions and solutions concepts in asolution store 420. While FIG. 4 depicts the various data stores asdistinct elements, it is appreciated that such separation is afunctional separation intended to facilitate comprehension of one ormore features of serious games hosted by the advisory services network400. It is to be appreciated that single data store, with or withoutpartitions, can be employed to store various game, evidentiary, andplayer-generated information.

As shown in FIG. 4, each game instance in the set of game instances 406can be associated with a sponsor, such as an organization with a complexproblem, from a set of organizations 440. In a specific, non-limitingexample, game instance 408 corresponds to organization 442. Accordingly,the collection of data 422 and scenario information 424 employed togenerate game instance 408 can originate from organization 442 and canrelate to a complex business problem of organization 442. While FIG. 4shows game instances in the set of game instances 406 individually andrespectively associated with distinct organizations in the set oforganizations 440, it is to be appreciated that a single organizationcan sponsor multiple game instances corresponding to multiple complexbusiness problems, or multiple organizations can sponsor a single gameinstance related to a shared complex problem.

FIG. 5 shows a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary, non-limitingembodiment for a gaming environment which immerses players in a businessof an enterprise organization facing a complex business problem. Theembodiment depicted in FIG. 5 is one example of a workflow followed bythe set of players 304 of a serious game of gaming platform 300 fromFIG. 3 or players 430 interacting with game instance 408 from FIG. 4. At500, a player enters a game scenario. At 510, a game narrativeassociation with the game scenario is displayed to the player as anintroduction. The narrative, according to an exemplary embodiment, caninclude a plurality of scenes each portraying a portion of a largerstory specifying a complex problem. After reading through the gamenarrative, the player can begin interacting with the game. Accordingly,at 520, input is obtained from the player. The input provided by theplayer can take several forms or indicate one of several actions desiredby the player. In one example, the input can be a selection of an itemof evidence associated with a particular scene of the narrative. Inresponse to this input, at 530, the selected item of evidence isdisplayed to the player. At 540, the selected item of evidence is addedto a dossier associated with the player.

In another example, the input can be a solution or a solution conceptdeveloped by the player. At 550, the solution or solution concept,provided by the player, is obtained. At 560, the solution or solutionconcept is submitted for review and/or approval by, for example, anorganization whose complex problem is modeled within the game. In yetanother example, the input can be navigational input to transition theuser to a discussion thread hosted within the game. At 570, in responseto navigational input obtained from the player, the discussion threadcan be retrieved and displayed. The player can read, respond,collaborate, or otherwise participate in the discussion thread. At 580,player input (e.g., posts, etc.) can be incorporated into the discussionthread.

While FIG. 5 depicts individual input handling paths, it is to beappreciated that such depiction is a simplification to provide a highlevel overview of potential actions, scenarios, and responses within agame instance of advisory services network gaming platform. Forinstance, while viewing an item of evidence at 530, the player canprovide input for which a game response is to navigate to discussionthread, at 570, associated with or related to the item of evidence.Accordingly, the player is not limited to merely adding the item ofevidence to the dossier as a multitude of actions can be taken uponviewing the item of evidence. In another example, submitting a solution,at 560, can start a discussion thread which is navigated to at 570. Thegame can continue to loop as shown in FIG. 5, wherein the playercontinues to navigate the narrative, provide input, participate indiscussions, etc., until the player exits the game and/or a ending pointwithin the game is reached.

Referring to FIG. 6, an exemplary, non-limiting illustration of a userinterface of a gaming environment of an advisory services network. Theuser interface can be deployed on a standalone application executing onan operating system of a computer or as web-based application executingon a web server and accessed via a web browser. As shown in FIG. 6, theuser interface can include a wide array of sections presenting a varietyof information. At 600, a logo or name of the system (e.g., “AdvisoryServices Network”) can be displayed along with a name of specific gameinstance or narrative. In a specific, non-limiting example, thenarrative name can be a name or identity of an organization whosecomplex problem is modeled by the game instance. In another example, thenarrative name can be more descriptive and hint or suggest the complexproblem of the organization.

At 602, an indication of time remaining in the game can be displayed.The organization with the complex problem can have a time limit by whichit would desire a potential solution to be presented. Such time limitcan translate into time duration of the game as shown at 602. At 604, aheader portion with header information can be presented. In FIG. 6,header information, in a specific, non-limiting example, can include agreeting and a rank provided to the player in the game. At 606, theplayer's score can be shown. The score can be utilized to indicate asignificance of a player's contribution in the game and/or to serve as abasis to distribute intrinsic and extrinsic rewards to the player. Asdiscussed in greater detail below, the game can include a cascadingpoints system whereby the player's score is a function of the player'sactions as well as independent actions of other players referencing theplayer's actions. In an example, clicking on the score, at 606, candisplay details on the scoring rules as well as details of pointaccumulation.

At 608, various game support functions can be presented as a series ofbuttons. For instance, support functions, when selected, can open upmodal displays with appropriate controls. As shown in FIG. 6, someexemplary support functions include a leaderboard function, a feedbackfunction, and a help function. At 610, navigational breadcrumbs aredepicted. The navigational breadcrumbs serve a dual purpose. Not only dothe navigational breadcrumbs indicate a current scene viewed by theplayer, but the navigational breadcrumbs also depict the choices or pathtaken by the player to arrive at the current scene. At 612, a list ofother players who have played through the current scene. As shown inFIG. 6, and in accordance with one exemplary, non-limiting embodiment,the list of players can be depicted as a series of thumbnail images ofavatars or other identifiers associated with the players. Thisinformation can enable a player to research other choices, actions, orinput from other players regarding the current scene and evidence.

In FIG. 6, numeral 614 indicates a main content portion of the userinterface. Within the main content portion, a scene title (616) can bedisplayed along with any imagery related to the scene, shown as aprimary image at 618 with alternative thumbnail images at 620. Further,a scene narrative, shown at 622, can be presented along with a scrollbarif the narrative extends beyond a viewable pane of the user interface.

At 624, a related evidence tab is displayed, which can be activated todisplay a list of evidence supporting the current scene. The tab label,as shown in FIG. 6, can provide an indication of a number of evidenceitems as well as an indication of a number of discussion threads relatedto the evidence items. At 626, a dossier tab is depicted which enablesaccess to the player's dossier. The tab label of the dossier tabindicates a number of items included in the player's dossier as well asa number of discussions pertaining to the player's dossier. At 628, aseries of navigational options are provided to the player. Thenavigational options present scenes to which the player can navigate tofrom the current scene.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary, non-limiting illustration of a user interface ofa network game within a gaming environment according to one or moreembodiments. This illustration is provided to highlight and describeembodiments and features related to viewing evidence within the gamingenvironment. It is to be appreciated that alternative user interfacescan be devised to accomplish the functionality described herein.

FIG. 7, in particular, shows a simplified user interface placed with acontext of an exemplary user interface for the advisory services networkgame as described previously with reference to FIG. 6. As shown in FIG.7, a display or panel 700 of a related evidence tab can slide over theinterface for the game when activated. Panel 700 can include a title 702of an item of evidence displayed as well as a control 704 to add theitem of evidence to a dossier and a control 706 to add labels to theitem of evidence or view labels already attached. An evidence displayportion 708 can display the item of evidence, which is a video in theexample user interface of FIG. 7. A timeline 710 associated with thevideo can be utilized to select a portion of the video (e.g., from time00:37 to time 01:29). The selected portion can be tagged or included ina discussion via a discussion timeline 712 which includes a tag 714indicating the portion of video extracted for discussion. The tag 714can include a thumbnail image or avatar associated with the playerextracting the portion and/or starting the discussion. When tagging aportion of evidence (video) for discussion, a pop-up 716 that includescontrols to enter a discussion title and a discussion comment, add animage, add a hyperlink, add a tag to the discussion, and/or create thediscussion thread. A discussion portion 718 of panel 700 can listdiscussion threads associated with the evidence displayed in panel 700.A control is provided to arrange available discussion by time, title,user, number of responses, rating, etc. FIG. 7 shows a discussion thread720 in the list of threads. As shown, discussion thread 720 can specifya title, a rating (e.g., 100% votes are positive), a timestamp of thevideo portion, and various controls to up vote, down vote, reply, etc.

The aforementioned embodiments of an advisory service network andassociated gaming platform are intended to provide a general overview ofa potential environment in which to implement and deploy the embodimentsand features of a video viewing and tagging system described below.

Viewing and Tagging Video in a Network Game

As mentioned above, a video viewing and tagging system is a mechanism ofthe advisory services network in which players can mark and save a pointin time of a video, a segment of the video, or an entirety of the video.The video viewing and tagging system further enables the players toapply specific attributes or tags to the video, the segment, or point intime. The specific attributes and tags facilitate sharing of videoportions among players, effective searching of videos related toparticular concepts, efficient retrieval and review of videos, etc.,where the videos manipulated by the video viewing and tagging system andstored in the advisory services network pertain to a complex problemthat the advisory services network is deployed to solve.

With the video viewing and tagging system, players of a game deployed onthe advisory services network can, while reviewing a video included asevidence within the game, extract a segment of the video by specifying astart time and a stop time of the segment or selecting a portion along avideo timeline. The extracted segment can be tagged, e.g., apply alabel, shared with other players, added to a dossier, etc. For instance,a player can mark a section of video and input a comment about thesection which starts a discussion thread that other players can review,participate in, and expand. Through the discussion thread, the otherplayers can share other video segments (e.g., related to informationthey have discovered and collected) with players. In an example, theother video segments can be embedded into the discussion thread, whichis already created and on-going. Through these mechanisms provided bythe video viewing and tagging system, networks of interlinked videosegments and comments develop which enable broad patterns to come aliveand robust solutions to be generated.

Tags can be applied to videos and video segments to facilitatecategorization, identification, and searchability of videos and videosegments. Default tags can be supplied by the advisory services networkand players can add custom tags to further increase categorization,identification, and searchability. In addition, tags can be utilized toprovide additional information about videos and video segmentsthemselves, or to search for related media. For example, a player cantag a video segment to provide additional background data on the videosegment that was removed during editing. In another example, the videoviewing and tagging system facilitates capture and communication of aperspective of an individual player on the complex problem and/orpotential solutions. For instance, tags can be employed to detail what avideo segment represents to the player.

With respect to one or more non-limiting aspects of the advisoryservices network game with a video viewing and tagging system asdescribed above, FIG. 8 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary,non-limiting embodiment for manipulating a video visually presented on auser interface. Starting at 800, a user interface visually presenting avideo in association with a video timeline is displayed. At 810, a timefield selection is received, from the user interface. In a specific,non-limiting example, the time field selection can specify a segment ofthe video. For instance, the time field selection can indicate a starttime and an end time of the segment and input via the video timelinepresented on the user interface. At 820, a command is received, from theuser interface, that is associated with the segment specified by thetime field selection. In a particular example, the command indicates anoperation to be performed on the segment. At 830, the command isexecuted, thus performing the operation on the segment. At 840, thedisplay of the user interface is updated to reflect changes inducedthrough execution of the command.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flow diagram of an exemplary, non-limitingembodiment for extracting a segment of a video visually presented on auser interface and adding the segment to a digital dossier. A digitaldossier (also referred to herein as a “dossier” or an “advisory servicesnetwork dossier”), according to one aspect, is a mechanism of anadvisory services network to encapsulate a perspective or view, of acomplex problem, of a specific players from a diverse group ofindividuals participating in crowd sourcing via a game instance on theadvisory services network. The dossier can capture a player'sperspective which is influenced by the background, experiences, skills,etc. of the player. Accordingly, with a large and diverse group ofplayers, the resultant set of dossiers provides a variety of viewpointswhich facilitates articulation of root problems and launch pads forhigh-quality solutions to those root problems. In a specific,non-limiting example, the dossier functions as a personal collection ofevidence items built by a player of the game on the advisory servicesnetwork. The player can review evidence items (such as evidence itemsstored in evidence store 412 shown in FIG. 4) related to a complexproblem and select specific items which the player believes bestrepresents the complex problem. The dossier enables the player to builda case on the complex problem by adding evidence to the dossier,removing evidence from the dossier, organizing evidence in the dossier,tagging evidence in the dossier, annotating evidence in the dossier,etc. The dossier can be shared with other players and/or experts alsoparticipating in the advisory services network.

Starting at 900, a dossier command and a time field selection parametersare received from a user interface. The time field selection parameterscan specify a portion or segment of a video presented on the userinterface and the dossier command can indicate a dossier-relatedoperation to be performed on the portion of the video. At 910, a newdossier item is created, wherein the new dossier item represents theportion of the video specified by the time field selection parameters.In one example, the dossier item can include a duplicated copy of theportion of the video. In another embodiment, the dossier item caninclude a reference to the portion of the video such that the dossieritem can be utilized to initiate playback (e.g., retrieval andpresentation) of only the portion of the video specified by the timefield selection parameters and included, by reference, in the dossieritem.

At 920, the new dossier item is added to a dossier corresponding to aplayer manipulating the user interface to generate the time fieldselection parameters and the dossier command. In accordance with anembodiment the dossier can be a data structure, containing dossier items(e.g., representations of evidence, videos, or portions thereof selectedby a player), retained in data storage in association with an identityof the player (e.g., username, player ID, etc.). At 930, the userinterface is updated to indicate inclusion of the portion of the videoto the dossier. Optionally, at 940, the user interface can transition toa dossier viewing mode that displays the dossier and the contentsthereof.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary, non-limiting actof adding a portion of a video to a digital dossier. According to anexample, FIG. 10 illustrates at least the method described above withreference to FIG. 9. As shown in FIG. 10, a time field selection 1000can be received by video extraction module 1004 from, for example, auser interface being manipulated by a player. Video extraction module1004, based upon time field selection 1000, extracts video portion 1008from video 1006, wherein video 1006 is visually presented by the userinterface conveying time field selection 1000. Similarly, a dossiermodule 1010 obtains a dossier command 1002 from the user interface. Inresponse to dossier command 1002, dossier module 1010 can request andobtain video portion 1008 extracted by video extraction module 1004.Dossier module 1010 generates a dossier item 1012 which incorporatesvideo portion 1008 as shown in FIG. 10. Dossier item 1012 can include acopy of video portion 1008 or can incorporate video portion 1008 byreference, such that playback of dossier item 1012 involves retrievingvideo 1006 but only playing video portion 1008 in accordance withinformation retained by dossier item 1012. As shown in FIG. 10, dossieritem 1012 can be retained in a dossier 1014.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment fortagging a portion of a video. Starting at 1100, a tagging command and atime field selection are received from a user interface. The time fieldselection can specify a portion or segment of a video presented on theuser interface and the tagging command can indicate an operation toattach a label to the portion of the video. At 1110, a label, includedin the tagging command, is associated with the portion of the videospecified by the time field selection. At 1120, the user interface isupdated to indicate application of the label to the portion of thevideo.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary, non-limiting actof tagging a portion of a video. According to an example, FIG. 12illustrates at least the method described above with reference to FIG.11. As shown in FIG. 12, a tagging module 1204 obtains a time fieldselection 1200 and a tagging command 1202 from a user interface (notshown). Tagging command 1204 can generate a new metadata entry 1206,which is added to metadata 1214 associated with video 1212 visuallypresented by the user interface and stored in a video store 1210 alongwith a plurality of disparate videos. In accordance with an example,metadata entry 1206 can include information that specifies a portion ofvideo 1212, according to time field selection 1200, and a label or tag,included in tagging command 1202, associated to the portion of video1212. In a further example, metadata 1214 can include numerous metadataentries such as metadata entry 1206 described above. In this manner,metadata 1214 can include information that specifies a plurality ofdisparate segments of video 1212 with distinct sets of labelsrespectively applied thereto.

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram of an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment forselecting a portion of a video and creating a discussion about theportion of video. Starting at 1300, a discussion command and a timefield selection are received from a user interface. The time fieldselection can specify a portion or segment of a video presented on theuser interface and the discussion command can indicate an operation tocreate a discussion thread based upon the portion of the video. At 1310,a new discussion thread is created, wherein the discussion thread islinked to the portion of the video specified by the time fieldselection. At 1320, the new discussion thread is stored in a storageunit that maintains data of a discussion board hosting the discussionthread. At 1330, the user interface is updated to indicate creation andassociation of the new discussion thread to the portion of the video.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary, non-limiting actof creating a discussion thread from an extracted portion of a video.According to an example, FIG. 14 illustrates at least the methoddescribed above with reference to FIG. 13. As shown in FIG. 14, a timefield selection 1400 can be received by video extraction module 1404from, for example, a user interface being manipulated by a player. Videoextraction module 1404, based upon time field selection 1400, extractsvideo portion 1408 from video 1406, wherein video 1406 is visuallypresented by the user interface that conveyed time field selection 1400.

Similarly, a discussion board module 1410 obtains a discussion command1402 from the user interface. In response to discussion command 1402,discussion board module 1410 can request and obtain video portion 1408extracted by video extraction module 1404. Discussion board module 1410generates a discussion thread 1412 to create a new discussion aroundvideo portion 1408 as shown in FIG. 14. Discussion thread 1412 caninclude, in addition to an initial comment, a copy of video portion 1408or a reference to video portion 1408 that can be followed to commenceplayback. As shown in FIG. 14, discussion thread 1412 can be retained ina discussion store 1414.

Further, a linking module 1416 is illustrated in FIG. 14, wherein thelinking module 1416 is configured to generate new metadata entry 1418that specifies the relationship between video portion 1408 (and/or video1406) and the newly created discussion thread 1412. For instance,linking module 1416 can obtain an identifier for video 1406 from videoextraction module 1404 as well as information identifying video portion1408 as specified by time field selection 1400. Further, linking module1416 can obtain an identifier, from discussion board 1410, fordiscussion thread 1412 created by discussion board module 1410 andstored in discussion store 1414. New metadata entry 1418 can associatethe identifier of discussion thread 1412 with the identifier of video1406 and, through inclusion of the information identifying video portion1408, further tie discussion thread 1412 specifically to video portion1408 of video 1406. As shown in FIG. 14, metadata entry 1418 newlygenerated by linking module 1416 can be stored in linking metadata store1420.

FIG. 15 is a flow diagram of an exemplary, non-limiting embodiment forlinking a portion of a video to an on-going discussion thread. Startingat 1500, a discussion command and a time field selection are receivedfrom a user interface. The discussion command relates to an operation tobe performed in regard to an on-going discussion thread and the timefield selection relates to a video not currently associated with theon-going discussion. At 1510, the on-going discussion thread is updatedbased upon the discussion command and a portion of the video specifiedby the time field selection. In an example, the on-going discussion canbe stored in a storage unit that maintains data of a discussion boardhosting the on-going discussion thread. At 1520, metadata is generatedthat indicates a relationship between the on-going discussion thread andthe portion of the video. At 1530, the user interface is updated toindicate the new relationship or to reflect the update to the on-goingdiscussion thread.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary, non-limiting actof extracting a portion of video and attaching the portion to anon-going discussion thread. According to an example, FIG. 16 illustratesat least the method described above with reference to FIG. 15. As shownin FIG. 16, a time field selection 1600 can be received by videoextraction module 1604 from, for example, a user interface beingmanipulated by a player. Video extraction module 1604, based upon timefield selection 1600, extracts video portion 1608 from video 1606.Similarly, a discussion board module 1610 obtains a discussion command1602 from the user interface. The discussion command 1602 can relate toan on-going discussion thread stored in discussion store 1614 such as,for example, discussion thread 1612. Discussion thread 1612 can beassociated with one or more videos or video segments. However, accordingto an aspect, discussion thread 1612 is not associated with either video1606 or video portion 1608. Further to this example, discussion command1602 can specify an operation to include (e.g., incorporate, reference,etc.) video portion 1608 into discussion thread 1612 which ispre-existing and on-going.

In response to discussion command 1602, discussion board module 1610 canupdate discussion thread 1612 by incorporating a comment from discussioncommand 1602 and a copy of or reference to video portion 1608. In otherwords, discussion board module 1610 adds the comment and video portion1608 to the discussion. A linking module 1616 generates new metadataentry 1618 that specifies the relationship between video portion 1608(and/or video 1606) and discussion thread 1612. In an example, metadataentry 1618 can be similar to metadata entry 1418 described above withreference to FIG. 14. As shown in FIG. 16, metadata entry 1618 newlygenerated by linking module 1616 can be stored in linking metadata store1620.

FIG. 17 illustrates a flow diagram of an exemplary, non-limitingembodiment for generating a dynamic user interface with information froma plurality of information sources. At 1700, content for display on auser interface is obtained. In an embodiment, the content for display isassociated with an identifier. In a specific, non-limiting example, thecontent for display can be a video. As such, the identifier can includeidentification information (e.g., an index, a key, etc.) thatcorresponds to the video. At 1710, data storage is queried with theidentifier associated with the content for display to identify a set ofrelated content identifiers. The set of related content identifiers caninclude identification information of a set of related content, which iscontent linked to the content for display. At 1720, respective datastorage entities are queried with identifiers from the set of relatedcontent identifiers to acquire the related content associated therewith.At 1730, a user interface is generated based upon the content fordisplay and the related content.

FIG. 18 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary, non-limiting act ofgenerating a user interface from a plurality of related content.According to an example, FIG. 18 illustrates at least the methoddescribed above with reference to FIG. 17. As shown in FIG. 18, a userinterface generation module 1800 obtains an identifier 1802 of contentto display. User interface generation module 1800 is configured to issuequery 1804, based upon identifier 1802, to a metadata store 1806 thatretains metadata specifying relationships, e.g., links, between content.The metadata store 1806, in response to query 1804, provides a set ofrelated content identifiers 1808 to user interface generation module1800. Based upon the set of related content identifiers 1808, the userinterface generation module 1800 generates and transmits a set ofqueries 1810 to data storage entities 1812. Data storage entities 1812can include a plurality of data stores such as data stores 1 through N,where N is any integer greater than or equal to one. From the datastorage entities 1812, user interface generation module 1800 receivesrelated content 1814. Based upon related content 1814 and the content todisplay, user interface generation module 1800 constructs user interface1816.

Turning now to FIG. 19, illustrated is a block diagram of an exemplary,non-limiting gaming platform in accordance with one or more embodiments.Gaming platform 1900, as shown in FIG. 19, can include an interfacemodule 1902 configured to accept input (e.g., time field selection(s)and command(s)) from a user interface 1904, displayable on a displayscreen, and to generate and transmit user interface content to userinterface 1904 display based on information from gaming platform 1900and/or associated games deployed thereon. In an example, user interface1904 can obtain user input 1906 from players (e.g., members of a diversegroup) whom interact with gaming platform 1900 through manipulation ofuser interface 1904. In a specific, non-limiting embodiment, user input1906 can relate to video segment selections, and desired operationsassociated therewith, that user interface 1904 converts into time fieldselection(s) and command(s) transmitted to interface module 1902 ofgaming platform 1900.

Gaming platform 1900 can host a plurality of game instances such as game1910 shown in FIG. 19. Game 1910 can be built around evidence, which caninclude ethnographic information, a variety of media, documents, casestudies, etc., related to a complex problem of a sponsor (e.g.,enterprise organization) utilizing gaming platform 1900 to crowd sourcesolutions. The evidence, which in an embodiment, includes a plurality ofvideos of interviews and discussions on the complex problem acquired viaethnographic techniques. The evidence can be stored in evidence store1914 of game 1910.

Game 1910, as depicted in FIG. 19, can include a game engine 1912configured to process user input forwarded to game 1910 by interfacemodule 1902 and generate output provided to interface module 1902, whichis subsequently presented on user interface 1904. In other words, gameengine 1912 can be a central entity of game 1910 and coordinates,controls, and manages substantially all aspects of game 1910. Game 1910further includes a plurality of data storage entities such as anevidence store 1914 configured to store videos (and other media types)pertaining to the complex problem, a dossier store 1916 configure toretain digital dossiers respectively associated with playersparticipating in game 1910, a discussion store 1918 configured to retaindiscussion threads including comments from and interactions amongplayers, and a metadata store 1920 configured to retain linking metadatathat specifies relationships between videos and/or segments thereof,stored in evidence store 1914, and discussion threads stored indiscussion store 1918.

In accordance with embodiments of the video viewing and tagging systemdescribed herein, game 1910 can obtain time field selection(s) andcommand(s) from user interface 1904 via interface module 1902. Gameengine 1912 is configured to execute the command(s) and extract portionsof videos based upon the time field selection(s). When executing thecommand(s), game engine 1912 accesses one or more of evidence store1914, dossier store 1916, discussion store, 1918, and/or metadata store1920. In addition, game engine 1912 is configured to generate newinformation and store the new information in one or more of theaforementioned storage entities.

In a further example, game engine 1912, after executing the command(s),is configured to generate new user interface content which is providedto user interface 1904 via interface module 1902 of gaming platform1900. When generating new user interface content, game engine 1912 candraw upon the various storage entities. For example, when generatinguser interface content that includes presentation of a video fromevidence store 1914, game engine 1912, in addition to accessing evidencestore 1914 to obtain the video, can access metadata store 1920 toidentify a set of discussion threads which have been created aroundand/or reference the video or portions thereof. In a specific,non-limiting embodiment, game engine 1912 can acquire an identifierassociated with the video to be presented via user interface 1904 andemploy the identifier to query metadata store 1920 to obtain entriesassociated with, e.g., include, the identifier. The set of discussionthreads can be retrieved from discussion store 1918 to generate userinterface content that presents the video alongside a listing of thediscussion threads from the set of discussion threads.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary, non-limiting gameand game engine deployed on a gaming platform in accordance with one ormore embodiments. More specifically, FIG. 20 depicts a detailed gameengine 1912 of game 1910 introduced in FIG. 19. As shown in FIG. 20,game engine 1912 can include a video tagging subsystem 2000 configuredto implement one or more embodiments described herein. For instance,video tagging subsystem 2000 can carry other methods described abovewith reference to FIGS. 8, 9, 11, 13, and 15. In an aspect, videotagging subsystem 2000 obtains time field selection(s) and command(s)and executes the command(s). Game engine 1912 further includes a userinterface content module 2002 configured to generate user interfacecontent. As shown in FIG. 20, game engine 1912 can maintain a UI state2004 utilized by video tagging subsystem 2000 and updated by userinterface content module 2002. UI state 2004 can specify a current viewof the user interface (e.g., a viewing mode) as well as identificationinformation regarding content of the user interface. For instance, UIstate 2004 can include an identifier of a video when the video ispresented on the user interface, identifiers associated with discussionthreads included on the user interface, an identifier of a dossierdisplayed on the user interface, etc. The identifiers, in an embodiment,are employed by the video tagging subsystem 2000 and/or user interfacecontent module 2002 to acquire information from various storageentities, such as evidence store 1914, dossier 1916, discussion store1918, and metadata store 1920 described above.

Game engine 1912 can include a plurality of interface modules such asevidence interface module 2006, dossier interface module 2008,discussion board interface module 2010, and metadata store interfacemodule 2012. In an embodiment, evidence interface module 2006 isconfigured to retrieve evidence, e.g., videos, from evidence store 1914,store evidence to evidence store 1914, and retrieve and/or updatemetadata associated with evidence retained in evidence store 1914.Dossier interface module 2008 is configured to retrieve dossiers storedin dossier store 1916 and update dossiers stored in dossier store 1916(e.g., add items, remove items, modify items, etc.). Discussion boardinterface module 2010 is configured to retrieve, store, and updatediscussion threads stored in discussion store 1918. Similarly, metadatastore interface module 2012 is configured to retrieve, store, and/orupdate metadata entries retained in metadata store 1920.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary, non-limiting videotagging subsystem according to one or more embodiments. As shown in FIG.21, video tagging subsystem 2000 described above can include variousmodules configured to perform functions described herein. For example,video tagging subsystem 2000 can include a video extraction module 2100configured to extract a segment of a video based upon input parameterssuch as a start time and an end time of the segment. Video taggingsubsystem can also include a dossier module 2102 configured to generatedossier items based upon segments of videos extracted by videoextraction module 2100. A discussion board module 2104 is provided whichis configured to create new discussion threads around segments of videosor to update existing on-going threads to include segments of videos. Alinking module 2106, included in video tagging subsystem 2000, isconfigured to generate linking metadata that specifies a relationshipbetween segments of videos and discussion threads. Further, videotagging subsystem 2000 can include a tagging module 2108 configured toapply labels, e.g., default labels or custom labels, to segments ofvideos.

FIGS. 22-24 are exemplary, non-limiting illustrations of user interfacesof a network game within a gaming environment according to one or moreembodiment. These illustrations are provided to highlight and describeembodiments and features of the video viewing and tagging system and arenot intended to limit the appended claims to the depictions describedhere. It is to be appreciated that alternative user interfaces can bedevised to accomplish the functionality described herein and that suchalternative interfaces are intended to be within the scope of theappended claims.

FIG. 22 is an exemplary, non-limiting illustration of a user interfaceof a network game within a gaming environment according to one or moreembodiments. Particularly, FIG. 22 illustrates a display or panel of avideo viewing and tagging system as described above. In one example, thedisplay or panel illustrated in FIG. 22 can be incorporated into a userinterface of a advisory services network gaming environment in a similarfashion to the integration of panel 700 of FIG. 7.

As shown in FIG. 22, at 2200, a title and time length of a video isshown. At 2212, avatars or thumbnails of the last few players to viewthe video are shown. The video can be presented in a video playbackportion designated by 2202 and can be controlled by playback controls2204. Playback controls 2204, as shown in FIG. 22, can include aplay/pause toggle, a volume slider, a back control to skip back to atimestamp associated with a previous discussion, and a forward controlto skip forward to a timestamp associate with a next discussion. Theuser interface depicted in FIG. 22 can provide various controls tomanipulate the video in accordance with other features of the gamingenvironment. For instance, at 2206, a control is provided to add thevideo to a dossier. At 2208, controls are provided to rate the video(e.g., vote up or vote down) and, at 2210, a control is provided to viewand add tags or labels to the video.

A video timeline 2214 is included to display a visual representation ofvideo playback in terms of an overall length of the video. A playbackhead and start discussion button are illustrated at 2216. From theplayback head, back to a beginning of timeline 2214 (e.g., leftmostside), the timeline 2214 can be shaded to show playback progress. Asshown in FIG. 22, various video segments can be tagged and displayed.For example, one tag, indicated at 2218, can include a representation ofa player avatar, an indicator that points to a starting position of thesegment, and a shaded portion that extends to an ending position of thesegment. As further shown in FIG. 22, multiple tags can overlap such theshaded portions, at the overlap, darken to indicate such overlap. In aspecific, non-limiting example, each tag, such as the tag at 2218,correspond to a discussion thread, which can be listed in a discussionportion of the user interface at 2220. The discussion threads listed canbe sorted according to timecode (e.g., the starting time relative to astart of the video), posting date (e.g., date of creation of thethread), rating, username, etc. Each discussion, such as discussion2222, can specify a username and avatar of the player who created thediscussion, a rating (e.g., percentage of total votes which arepositive), a timestamp of the video portion relative to the timeline ofthe video, a creation date of the discussion, an indication of a numberof responses, and various controls to up vote, down vote, reply, etc. Inaddition, when a particular player is logged on, an icon can appear ondiscussion started by that player, wherein the icon corresponds to acontrol to initiate a live messaging chat with the player.

FIG. 23 is an exemplary, non-limiting illustration of a user interfaceof a network game within a gaming environment according to one or moreembodiments. FIG. 23 builds upon FIG. 22 and, accordingly, referencenumerals from FIG. 22 are omitted for clarity. In an example, FIG. 23illustrates user interface features associated with creating a newdiscussion based around a segment of a video. While a video is playing,a start discussion control 2300 can be activated to initiate anoperation to create a new discussion thread. Upon activating the startdiscussion control 2300, which represents a start time of a segment, anend time can be specified by, for example, dragging from the startdiscussion control 2300 to a terminator 2302, clicking on timeline 2214at a position corresponding to terminator 2302, entering a timestampassociated with terminator 2302, etc. Further, upon activating the startdiscussion control 2300, a pop-up 2304 is displayed to enable creationof the discussion. As shown in FIG. 23, a comment can be entered, imagescan be attached, or, hyperlinks can be attached. Further, a control isprovided to start the discussion.

Turning to FIG. 24, an exemplary, non-limiting illustration of a userinterface is depicted after a discussion is created via the userinterface illustrated in FIG. 23. As shown in FIG. 24, a new tag,illustrated at 2400, is displayed on the user interface to indicatecreation of the discussion. In addition, a new discussion thread 2402 isadded to discussion portion 2200.

Exemplary Networked and Distributed Environments

One of ordinary skill in the art can appreciate that the variousembodiments of video viewing and tagging system and methods describedherein can be implemented in connection with any computer or otherclient or server device, which can be deployed as part of a computernetwork or in a distributed computing environment, and can be connectedto any kind of data store. In this regard, the various embodimentsdescribed herein can be implemented in any computer system orenvironment having any number of memory or storage units, and any numberof applications and processes occurring across any number of storageunits. This includes, but is not limited to, an environment with servercomputers and client computers deployed in a network environment or adistributed computing environment, having remote or local storage.

Distributed computing provides sharing of computer resources andservices by communicative exchange among computing devices and systems.These resources and services include the exchange of information, cachestorage and disk storage for objects, such as files. These resources andservices also include the sharing of processing power across multipleprocessing units for load balancing, expansion of resources,specialization of processing, and the like. Distributed computing takesadvantage of network connectivity, allowing clients to leverage theircollective power to benefit the entire enterprise. In this regard, avariety of devices may have applications, objects or resources that mayparticipate in video viewing and tagging mechanisms as described forvarious embodiments of the subject disclosure.

FIG. 25 provides a schematic diagram of an exemplary networked ordistributed computing environment. The distributed computing environmentcomprises computing objects 2510, 2512, etc. and computing objects ordevices 2520, 2522, 2524, 2526, 2528, etc., which may include programs,methods, data stores, programmable logic, etc., as represented byapplications 2530, 2532, 2534, 2536, 2538. It can be appreciated thatcomputing objects 2510, 2512, etc. and computing objects or devices2520, 2522, 2524, 2526, 2528, etc. may comprise different devices, suchas personal digital assistants (PDAs), audio/video devices, mobilephones, MP3 players, personal computers, laptops, etc.

Each computing object 2510, 2512, etc. and computing objects or devices2520, 2522, 2524, 2526, 2528, etc. can communicate with one or moreother computing objects 2510, 2512, etc. and computing objects ordevices 2520, 2522, 2524, 2526, 2528, etc. by way of the communicationsnetwork 2540, either directly or indirectly. Even though illustrated asa single element in FIG. 25, communications network 2540 may compriseother computing objects and computing devices that provide services tothe system of FIG. 25, and/or may represent multiple interconnectednetworks, which are not shown. Each computing object 2510, 2512, etc. orcomputing object or device 2520, 2522, 2524, 2526, 2528, etc. can alsocontain an application, such as applications 2530, 2532, 2534, 2536,2538, that might make use of an API, or other object, software, firmwareand/or hardware, suitable for communication with or implementation ofthe video tagging and viewing systems provided in accordance withvarious embodiments of the subject disclosure.

There are a variety of systems, components, and network configurationsthat support distributed computing environments. For example, computingsystems can be connected together by wired or wireless systems, by localnetworks or widely distributed networks. Currently, many networks arecoupled to the Internet, which provides an infrastructure for widelydistributed computing and encompasses many different networks, thoughany network infrastructure can be used for exemplary communications madeincident to the systems as described in various embodiments.

Thus, a host of network topologies and network infrastructures, such asclient/server, peer-to-peer, or hybrid architectures, can be utilized.The “client” is a member of a class or group that uses the services ofanother class or group to which it is not related. A client can be aprocess, i.e., roughly a set of instructions or tasks, that requests aservice provided by another program or process. The client processutilizes the requested service without having to “know” any workingdetails about the other program or the service itself.

In a client/server architecture, particularly a networked system, aclient is usually a computer that accesses shared network resourcesprovided by another computer, e.g., a server. In the illustration ofFIG. 25, as a non-limiting example, computing objects or devices 2520,2522, 2524, 2526, 2528, etc. can be thought of as clients and computingobjects 2510, 2512, etc. can be thought of as servers where computingobjects 2510, 2512, etc., acting as servers provide data services, suchas receiving data from client computing objects or devices 2520, 2522,2524, 2526, 2528, etc., storing of data, processing of data,transmitting data to client computing objects or devices 2520, 2522,2524, 2526, 2528, etc., although any computer can be considered aclient, a server, or both, depending on the circumstances.

A server is typically a remote computer system accessible over a remoteor local network, such as the Internet or wireless networkinfrastructures. The client process may be active in a first computersystem, and the server process may be active in a second computersystem, communicating with one another over a communications medium,thus providing distributed functionality and allowing multiple clientsto take advantage of the information-gathering capabilities of theserver.

In a network environment in which the communications network 2540 or busis the Internet, for example, the computing objects 2510, 2512, etc. canbe Web servers with which other computing objects or devices 2520, 2522,2524, 2526, 2528, etc. communicate via any of a number of knownprotocols, such as the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). Computingobjects 2510, 2512, etc. acting as servers may also serve as clients,e.g., computing objects or devices 2520, 2522, 2524, 2526, 2528, etc.,as may be characteristic of a distributed computing environment.

Exemplary Computing Device

As mentioned, advantageously, the techniques described herein can beapplied to any device where it is desirable to solve real-world problemsin a computing system supporting the media viewing and tagging systemdescribed herein. It can be understood, therefore, that handheld,portable and other computing devices and computing objects of all kindsare contemplated for use in connection with the various embodiments,i.e., anywhere where players can access the media viewing and taggingsystem. Accordingly, the below general purpose remote computer describedbelow in FIG. 26 is but one example of a computing device.

Embodiments can partly be implemented via an operating system, for useby a developer of services for a device or object, and/or includedwithin application software that operates to perform one or morefunctional aspects of the various embodiments described herein. Softwaremay be described in the general context of computer-executableinstructions, such as program modules, being executed by one or morecomputers, such as client workstations, servers or other devices. Thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that computer systems have a varietyof configurations and protocols that can be used to communicate data,and thus, no particular configuration or protocol is consideredlimiting.

FIG. 26 thus illustrates an example of a suitable computing systemenvironment 2600 in which one or aspects of the embodiments describedherein can be implemented, although as made clear above, the computingsystem environment 2600 is only one example of a suitable computingenvironment and is not intended to suggest any limitation as to scope ofuse or functionality. In addition, the computing system environment 2600is not intended to be interpreted as having any dependency relating toany one or combination of components illustrated in the exemplarycomputing system environment 2600.

With reference to FIG. 26, an exemplary remote device for implementingone or more embodiments includes a general purpose computing device inthe form of a computer 2610. Components of computer 2610 may include,but are not limited to, a processing unit 2620, a system memory 2630,and a system bus 2622 that couples various system components includingthe system memory to the processing unit 2620.

Computer 2610 typically includes a variety of computer readable mediaand can be any available media that can be accessed by computer 2610.The system memory 2630 may include computer storage media in the form ofvolatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) and/orrandom access memory (RAM). By way of example, and not limitation,system memory 2630 may also include an operating system, applicationprograms, other program modules, and program data. According to afurther example, computer 2610 can also include a variety of other media(not shown), which can include, without limitation, RAM, ROM, EEPROM,flash memory or other memory technology, compact disk (CD)-ROM, digitalversatile disk (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes,magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices,or other tangible and/or non-transitory media which can be used to storedesired information.

A user can enter commands and information into the computer 2610 throughinput devices 2640. A monitor or other type of display device is alsoconnected to the system bus 2622 via an interface, such as outputinterface 2650. In addition to a monitor, computers can also includeother peripheral output devices such as speakers and a printer, whichmay be connected through output interface 2650.

The computer 2610 may operate in a networked or distributed environmentusing logical connections to one or more other remote computers, such asremote computer 2670. The remote computer 2670 may be a personalcomputer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or othercommon network node, or any other remote media consumption ortransmission device, and may include any or all of the elementsdescribed above relative to the computer 2610. The logical connectionsdepicted in FIG. 26 include a network 2672, such as a local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), but may also include othernetworks/buses. Such networking environments are commonplace in homes,offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets and the Internet.

As mentioned above, while exemplary embodiments have been described inconnection with various computing devices and network architectures, theunderlying concepts may be applied to any network system and anycomputing device or system in which it is desirable to implement a gamefor real-world applications.

Also, there are multiple ways to implement the same or similarfunctionality, e.g., an appropriate API, tool kit, driver code,operating system, control, standalone or downloadable software object,etc. which enables applications and services to take advantage of thetechniques provided herein. Thus, embodiments herein are contemplatedfrom the standpoint of an API (or other software object), as well asfrom a software or hardware object that implements one or moreembodiments as described herein. Thus, various embodiments describedherein can have aspects that are wholly in hardware, partly in hardwareand partly in software, as well as in software.

The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean serving as an example,instance, or illustration. For the avoidance of doubt, the subjectmatter disclosed herein is not limited by such examples. In addition,any aspect or design described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarilyto be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects ordesigns, nor is it meant to preclude equivalent exemplary structures andtechniques known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Furthermore, tothe extent that the terms “includes,” “has,” “contains,” and othersimilar words are used, for the avoidance of doubt, such terms areintended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” asan open transition word without precluding any additional or otherelements when employed in a claim.

As mentioned, the various techniques described herein may be implementedin connection with hardware or software or, where appropriate, with acombination of both. As used herein, the terms “component,” “module,”“system” and the like are likewise intended to refer to acomputer-related entity, either hardware, a combination of hardware andsoftware, software, or software in execution. For example, a componentmay be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, aprocessor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program,and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application runningon computer and the computer can be a component. One or more componentsmay reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a componentmay be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or morecomputers.

The aforementioned systems have been described with respect tointeraction between several components. It can be appreciated that suchsystems and components can include those components or specifiedsub-components, some of the specified components or sub-components,and/or additional components, and according to various permutations andcombinations of the foregoing. Sub-components can also be implemented ascomponents communicatively coupled to other components rather thanincluded within parent components (hierarchical).

Additionally, it can be noted that one or more components may becombined into a single component providing aggregate functionality ordivided into several separate sub-components, and that any one or moremiddle layers, such as a management layer, may be provided tocommunicatively couple to such sub-components in order to provideintegrated functionality. Any components described herein may alsointeract with one or more other components not specifically describedherein but generally known by those of skill in the art.

In view of the exemplary systems described supra, methodologies that maybe implemented in accordance with the described subject matter can alsobe appreciated with reference to the flowcharts of the various figures.While for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the methodologies areshown and described as a series of blocks, it is to be understood andappreciated that the various embodiments are not limited by the order ofthe blocks, as some blocks may occur in different orders and/orconcurrently with other blocks from what is depicted and describedherein. Where non-sequential, or branched, flow is illustrated viaflowchart, it can be appreciated that various other branches, flowpaths, and orders of the blocks, may be implemented which achieve thesame or a similar result. Moreover, some illustrated blocks are optionalin implementing the methodologies described hereinafter.

In addition to the various embodiments described herein, it is to beunderstood that other similar embodiments can be used or modificationsand additions can be made to the described embodiment(s) for performingthe same or equivalent function of the corresponding embodiment(s)without deviating therefrom. Still further, multiple processing chips ormultiple devices can share the performance of one or more functionsdescribed herein, and similarly, storage can be effected across aplurality of devices. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited toany single embodiment, but rather is to be construed in breadth, spiritand scope in accordance with the appended claims.

1. A method facilitated by at least one processor of a computing system,comprising: receiving, from an interface, time field selectionparameters specifying a segment of a video visually presented on theinterface; creating a new discussion thread, via a discussion platform,relating to the segment of the video; and updating the interface toindicate the creating of the new discussion thread and associating thediscussion thread with the segment of the video.
 2. The method of claim1, further comprising receiving a command from the interface, triggeringthe creating of the new discussion thread.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the creating of the new discussion thread further comprises:generating a data structure that represents the new discussion thread;and populating the data structure with at least one of a username of aninitiator of the new discussion thread, a time and date of the creating,an initial comment text obtained from the interface, a file attachment,or a hyperlink attachment.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprisingidentifying a start time and an end time of the segment of the videobased on the time field selection parameters.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising: extracting the segment of the video from the video.6. The method of claim 1, further comprising linking the new discussionthread and the segment of the video to indicate that a topic of the newdiscussion thread relates to the segment of the video.
 7. The method ofclaim 6, wherein the linking of the new discussion thread to and thesegment of the video further comprises: generating metadata thatassociates a first identifier, associated with the new discussionthread, and a second identifier corresponding to the video; and storingthe metadata in a data store.
 8. The method of claim 7, furthercomprising appending time field information to the metadata delineatingthe segment of the video relative to a time line of the video.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the updating of the interface furthercomprises displaying a tag, linking to the new discussion thread, on aplayback timeline of the interface including displaying a visualindication, of the segment of the video specified by the time fieldselection parameters, along the playback timeline and a visualrepresentation of an initiator of the new discussion thread.
 10. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the updating of the interface furthercomprises: receiving an identifier of content for display on theinterface; sending a request to a metadata store with the identifier toacquire a set of related content identifiers; acquiring related contentfrom a plurality of data stores based on the set of related contentidentifiers; and generating interface content based on a composite ofthe related content and the content for display.
 11. A computer readablemedium comprising computer-executable instructions that, in response toexecution by a computing system, cause the computing system to performoperations, comprising: receiving a command relating to a pre-existingdiscussion thread presented on an interface and time field parametersrelating to a disparate media item; updating a content of thepre-existing discussion thread based on the command and the disparatemedia item; associating the pre-existing discussion thread with asegment of the disparate media item extracted according to the timefield parameters; and updating the interface to reflect the contentupdated and the associating of the pre-existing discussion thread andthe segment of the disparate media item.
 12. The method of claim 11,wherein the associating further comprises: generating metadata thatassociates a first identifier, corresponding to the discussion thread,and a second identifier corresponding to the media item; and storing themetadata generated in a data store.
 13. A gaming platform of an advisoryservices network, comprising: a game engine associated with an instanceof a game and configured to manage execution of the game, wherein avariety of players participate to solve a real-world problem for which asolution is yet to be found based on evidence input to the game; aninterface module configured to maintain display content an interface andto receive player input from the interface; and a plurality of datastorage locations, comprising: an evidence store configured to retain acollection of data related to a complex problem of a sponsor of thegame, wherein the collection of data includes media files conveyingethnographic information received from the sponsor; and a discussionstore configured to store discussion threads, wherein the game enginefurther includes: a video viewing and tagging subsystem configured toretrieve a first media file from the evidence store, tag a portion ofthe first media file, and create a new discussion thread that pertainsto the portion of the first media file tagged.
 14. The gaming platformof claim 13, wherein the video viewing and tagging subsystem is furtherconfigured to retrieve a second media file from the evidence store,identify a pre-existing discussion thread stored in the discussion storeand presented on the interface, and associate the second media file withthe pre-existing discussion thread.
 15. The gaming platform of claim 13,wherein the video viewing and tagging subsystem comprises a linkingmodule configured to associate the new discussion thread with theportion of the first media file.
 16. The gaming platform of claim 15,wherein the linking module is further configured to generate a metadataentry based on a first identifier corresponding to the new discussionthread and a second identifier corresponding to the first media file,wherein the metadata correlates the first identifier and the secondidentifier.
 17. The gaming platform of claim 16, wherein the metadataentry further includes information that specifies the portion of thefirst media file as a function of an entirety of the first media file.18. The gaming platform of claim 13, wherein the plurality of datastores further comprises a metadata store configured to store metadatathat associates discussion threads stored in the discussion store tomedia files stored in the evidence store.
 19. The gaming platform ofclaim 18, wherein the game engine further includes a tagging moduleconfigured to associate a label with the portion of the first mediafile.
 20. The gaming platform of claim 13, wherein the game enginefurther includes an interface content module configured to generateinterface content, maintained by the interface module, based on mediafiles stored in the evidence store and respective discussion threadsrespectively associated with the media files.